2000-2009 - The Lost Decade?

Flamed Diving

Yello. I am a big music fan. I am a musician. Earphones spend more time in my ear than not. I like music from all eras; from classical right through to early 20th century and beyond. But when we speak of music and eras these days, we conveniently package them into decades, and speak of the 1960's onwards, though sometimes including the 1950's (and for good reason!).

Anyways, I think the last decade has been something of a disaster, really. Too many hyped bands, not enough substance. Indie bands that aren't really independent, no real underground scene to speak of, no pop cultural shifts, except towards total mediocrity. Of course, there have been some great bands, but nowhere near the frequency of previous decades, imo. However, I must say that the tail-end of this decade has shown a great improvement, especially from 2008 onwards, so hopefully this is a trend into a great 2010-2019.

Thoughts?

Mars Bar

I agree with you on everything!

I'm living in the 60's, 70's and 80's when it comes to music.

Kold

I think it's utterly lazy when people say this. There are plenty of great musicians and plenty of great music around presently. The one thing that's changed is the way music is being put out. The internet is a huge reason for this, imo.

As for scenes, breakcore, dubstep, post rock, electronic music isn't what it was 10 years ago. There are less iconic artists because there are so many more artists. The last 10 years have had probably more excellent albums than in any other decade. Some top acts too. Chart music has been abysmal but I don't ever really take chart music into account when discussing music as I simply don't know anything about it. I just don't understand what people are saying when I can find a new album that's very worth listening to at least once a week with a mid-low amount of effort.

projectmayhem

Kold wrote: »

I think it's utterly lazy when people say this. There are plenty of great musicians and plenty of great music around presently. The one thing that's changed is the way music is being put out. The internet is a huge reason for this, imo.

As for scenes, breakcore, dubstep, post rock, electronic music isn't what it was 10 years ago. There are less iconic artists because there are so many more artists. The last 10 years have had probably more excellent albums than in any other decade. Some top acts too. Chart music has been abysmal but I don't ever really take chart music into account when discussing music as I simply don't know anything about it. I just don't understand what people are saying when I can find a new album that's very worth listening to at least once a week with a mid-low amount of effort.

100% agree. I'm sick of hearing the shtick that "it's not the same" because bands/artists stink now. Yes, if you're method of hearing music is fm104. If you go to discover new artists/bands and get involved in hearing new music you'll find some absolutely stunning bands. And thanks to this new online evolution of music distribution, more bands are out there - and more of them with real substance.

This decade for me is dominated with the epic growth in electronic music. Daft Punk are one of my favourite acts and really tipify where my ear went this last decade. As far as other genre's go, the only one that disappointed me was metal and hard rock. No one really blew me away and the genre found a sound that everyone replicated and then became marketing fodder, ruining the sound thereafter.

Burning Eclipse

Kold wrote: »

The last 10 years have had probably more excellent albums than in any other decade.

I know you'll think I'm lazy for not offering a lengthy rebuttal, but just no!!! I could not possibly disagree more! I know it really depends on how a person defines excellent (and of course personal opinion), but I just don't see it... 'hear it' really! Perhaps it's down to differing tastes.

MoominPapa

I reckon the 90s were worse than the 00s

Flamed Diving

The typical rebuttal to this argument always consists of baseless assumptions such as:

Yes, if you're method of hearing music is fm104.

Which I doubt even the OP of this statement truely believes.

Anyway, I check all the usual websites and magazines, word of mouth, etc. Nothing really gets me going, tbh. The vast majority of "indie" music this decade has been a rehash of bad 80's music. Those bands that avoided this trap are the ones which I would single out for attention. But they are in the minority. As I said, the quality of music in the last two years has improved, and long may it last into the next decade.

Kold

Flamed Diving wrote: »

The typical rebuttal to this argument always consists of baseless assumptions such as:



Which I doubt even the OP of this statement truely believes.

Anyway, I check all the usual websites and magazines, word of mouth, etc. Nothing really gets me going, tbh. The vast majority of "indie" music this decade has been a rehash of bad 80's music. Those bands that avoided this trap are the ones which I would single out for attention. But they are in the minority. As I said, the quality of music in the last two years has improved, and long may it last into the next decade.

Is it Indie music you're looking for? And I'm assuming by that you mean indie rock? Well you'd be right that things have slowed down on that front, the 90's had the 'seminal' albums but seriously, how much do you expect people to milk from the traditional band set up with the whingey vocals? That doesn't mean that there isn't some really good stuff out there. The Antlers, Passion Pit and F*ck Buttons have produced interesting enough sounds in the last couple of months if the latter group aren't particularly to my tastes. Also, in my opinion Radiohead were probably the best of what 90's alt had to offer and yet, they've managed to get so much better in the naughties.

But again I'll state; I think you're wrong, music hasn't gotten worse, it's just evolved strongly from what it was 10 years ago. With the ease of access to the listener, the thousands of music blogs at our disposal and the technology. The music industry is losing it's stranglehold on music and as such, the art of music is coming back, this can only be good. The understated being more widely appreciated than the anthemish. I think that if you really looked for music with an open mind, you'd find it.

Genres like Techno and Hip hop have also managed to reinvent themselves and are exciting once again. More people are listening to genres like post rock than 10 years ago. Breakcore and Electro are getting great coverage in some Cork clubs because enough people have an appreciation for them. I guess you'll have to give me better examples of what you mean when you say that music is worse now. That way we won't jump to conclusions about you.

fobster

The noughties has been the decade of the "next big thing" across all genres. Saturation point has been reached due to the ease of recording, distribution etc.. And while there are definitely bands out there producing good quality music they get lost in the mire through no fault of their own.

Obviously look beyond what mainstream radio stations and magazines are recommending. They are businesses that survive broadly due to advertising and similar revenue so will only push what's popular in order to maximise such revenue.

My musical tastes are being pulled in several different directions at the moment and as such there's almost too much music demanding my ears, not much I can do about it but there ya go!

2009 for me has been my discovery of Clutch, found them through a song of theirs featured on a computer game. So many quality tunes listened to since then and they've just released their ninth studio album and from the first few listens, it's a good auld listen.

liah

2000-2009 has been a great decade for music tbh. Maybe not the shít that's in the pop charts, but if you do any kind of looking, there's loads of stuff. Particularly in indie, anti-folk and post-rock.

Some 00's-released songs by the following are absolutely brilliant:
(note: while the bands may not have originated in the 00's, the max they'd be is late 90's, and they've made it big for themselves in the 00's as opposed to the 90's which is why I've included them.)

The Black Keys/Dan Auerbach, the Decemberists, Two Gallants, Sigur Rós, múm, Seabear, Amiina, Ólafur Arnalds, K'naan, Regina Spektor, The National, Kings of Leon, Born Ruffians, The Samuel Jackson Five, Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Death From Above 1979, Royksopp, Stars, Goldmund, Dar Williams, Andrew Bird, Obadiah Parker, Efterklang, Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst, Gorrilaz, Amy Millan, Imogen Heap/Frou Frou, Sunset Rubdown, Digitalism, Datarock, Noah and the Whale, Kimya Dawson, Old Crow Medicine Show, A Fine Frenzy, Eisley, Phantom/Ghost, Tegan and Sara, We Are Scientists, Clueso, Paolo Nutini, The Zutons, Amy McDonald, Morning Runner, KT Tunstall, Beatsteaks, Daedelus, City and Colour, Yael Naim, El Ten Eleven, Der Junge mit der Gitarre, Philipp Poisel, Joachim Deutschland, Czaqu, Gustav (female), Voltaire, This Will Destroy You, Broken Social Scene, Set Fire to Flames, Greg Laswell, Radio Moscow, Pornopop, Gisbert zu Knyphausen, My Morning Jacket, happysad, Goldfrapp, Belle and Sebastian, Eluvium, Vitalic, Narkotiki, Cuthead, Great Lake Swimmers, Hauschka, Dorfdisko, Propellerheads, Artur Rojek, Metric, Håkan Hellström, Tortoise, Console, Neutral Milk Hotel, Matisyahu, Dirty Three, MSTRKRFT, Teitur, Yann Tiersen, LCD Soundsystem, Seryoga, Gogol Bordello.. I could go on for days.

Not to mention the amount of artists making comebacks or that have made brilliant 00's albums. AC/DC, Metallica (though St. Anger was a total flop), Bob Dylan, etc. Eddie Vedder has some good stuff on his own for the Into the Wild soundtrack. Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" came out in the 00's. Muse has done incredibly well in the 00's, they've been going for nearly 20 years and the 00's have brought them well into the limelight. The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method and Pendulum have been going for ages and are still as strong as ever. Afro Celt Sound System is flipping brilliant in their last few albums. A lot of Tool's best songs were released in the 00's. Weezer's later naughties albums were huge hits. Daft Punk pretty much was my early 00's music taste. Massive attack is still releasing solid albums. Foo Fighters is doing the same. So's Manu Chao, Myslovitz, Die Arzte, and countless other bands.

Just because you don't notice good music doesn't mean it isn't there! And who cares about what other people remember about it, the only memories that should matter are your own.

I listen to over 2,400 different bands. I've found some spectacular stuff that nobody's heard of, or if they have, have only been able to hear it from last.fm. It's an absolutely priceless resource, some of the stuff on there is such a rare find.

Just gotta learn how to use it.

The Pontiac

Elbow and The Flaming Lips are another two bands that have been around a long time, but the 00's have undoubtedly been their biggest decade. I'd rate them as good as anything from decades gone by.

projectmayhem

Flamed Diving wrote: »

The typical rebuttal to this argument always consists of baseless assumptions such as:



Which I doubt even the OP of this statement truely believes.

C'mon, read between the lines. Obviously I'm not referring directly to 104, but to "usual outlets" in general.

Flamed Diving

liah wrote: »

The Black Keys/Dan Auerbach, the Decemberists, Two Gallants, Sigur Rós, múm, Seabear, Amiina, Ólafur Arnalds, K'naan, Regina Spektor, The National, Kings of Leon, Born Ruffians, The Samuel Jackson Five, Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Death From Above 1979, Royksopp, Stars, Goldmund, Dar Williams, Andrew Bird, Obadiah Parker, Efterklang, Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst, Gorrilaz, Amy Millan, Imogen Heap/Frou Frou, Sunset Rubdown, Digitalism, Datarock, Noah and the Whale, Kimya Dawson, Old Crow Medicine Show, A Fine Frenzy, Eisley, Phantom/Ghost, Tegan and Sara, We Are Scientists, Clueso, Paolo Nutini, The Zutons, Amy McDonald, Morning Runner, KT Tunstall, Beatsteaks, Daedelus, City and Colour, Yael Naim, El Ten Eleven, Der Junge mit der Gitarre, Philipp Poisel, Joachim Deutschland, Czaqu, Gustav (female), Voltaire, This Will Destroy You, Broken Social Scene, Set Fire to Flames, Greg Laswell, Radio Moscow, Pornopop, Gisbert zu Knyphausen, My Morning Jacket, happysad, Goldfrapp, Belle and Sebastian, Eluvium, Vitalic, Narkotiki, Cuthead, Great Lake Swimmers, Hauschka, Dorfdisko, Propellerheads, Artur Rojek, Metric, Håkan Hellström, Tortoise, Console, Neutral Milk Hotel, Matisyahu, Dirty Three, MSTRKRFT, Teitur, Yann Tiersen, LCD Soundsystem, Seryoga, Gogol Bordello

I have been recommended the above highlighted bands over the past decade and got the albums, but I was left unimpressed by all of them. I found that each time I went on a hunt for new music in this decade, I would just end up with a bunch of mediocre albums with a maximum of 4 good songs on it, but usually only 1-2. That is what really irritates me about modern albums, we seem to be lumped with LP's with just a handful of good songs, the rest are fillers and we are told that this is a great album. It's disappointing.

Sigur Rós are great.

Anyway, I am willing to be converted. So give me a top five from the remaining bands.

Flamed Diving

projectmayhem wrote: »

C'mon, read between the lines. Obviously I'm not referring directly to 104, but to "usual outlets" in general.

Ok. I don't listen to the radio. The only I ever have this year was when I was working in an office that had that awful, just awful Phantom FM on. This is supposed to be the "indie" station, but the music was tripe. I don't read many music magazines anymore, I probably haven't bought one in a year. I don't watch much television, either, so no MTV bands for me. So, I generally rely on 'word of mouth', or I surf the net and find which bands are good. I'm really unimpressed by what I find. This 'Deerhunter' band were the latest one to be recommended to me. They sound like a band I used to be in when I was in my early 20's and we were messing around during rehearsal. I was actually slightly jealous cause they are making a living from our **** ideas.

jape

I think Jack White has contributed a huge amount to music in this decade. You just have to pick up any album by white stripes, raconteurs, or his new band the dead weather to realise how talented a multi-instrumentalist musician he is.

From what I've seen anyway, decades in music only really get defined 2-3 years after they finish.

Flamed Diving

Yeah, Jack White has been great.

liah

Flamed Diving wrote: »

I have been recommended the above highlighted bands over the past decade and got the albums, but I was left unimpressed by all of them. I found that each time I went on a hunt for new music in this decade, I would just end up with a bunch of mediocre albums with a maximum of 4 good songs on it, but usually only 1-2. That is what really irritates me about modern albums, we seem to be lumped with LP's with just a handful of good songs, the rest are fillers and we are told that this is a great album. It's disappointing.

Sigur Rós are great.

Anyway, I am willing to be converted. So give me a top five from the remaining bands.

I can't do just a top five! There's so many, so I'll give you a rundown of my favourites of the group.

The Black Keys are my favourite at the moment, they're quite a flashback to older "dirty blues," some of their stuff is oddly reminiscent of Hendrix even. Dan Auerbach's solo stuff is fairly good also.

Two Gallants have beautiful, beautiful lyrics. Their sound is quite like the Decemberists but they seem to have quite a bit more heart, I tend to prefer them. Very folky/alt-country, but they can surprise you.

Ólafur Arnalds is a great composer; songs like 1405 (kind of not good with numbers so this might not be the right track) and 3055 are simply beautiful. Goldmund's "Ba" is also a very simplistic, beautiful track. If you like Sigur Rós you'd probably like "Ba," I'm not sure if you like minimal compositions though. Also would group Hauschka in with them. Lovely stuff altogether.

Explosions in the Sky is one of my favourite post-rock/chillout/"mood music" bands. It's very soundtrack-y (I listen to a lot of soundtracks) but it's good walking music and it has a bit of heart to it.

The Samuel Jackson Five is also post-rock, but it's a bit heavier and more experimental. Nobody seems to have heard of them, but the few people I've turned onto them have really enjoyed their stuff.

Andrew Bird is completely underrated, I only heard of him through last.fm but it's a wonder I hadn't heard of him before. Brilliant lyricist as well as an incredibly talented musician, plays guitar, violin, and is great whistler. :P

You may like Efterklang. They're a love/hate thing for a lot of people; check out their song "Mirador" on youtube. It's my personal favourite of theirs, but they do have quite a few very eccentric, very interesting songs.

Bright Eyes, headed by Conor Oberst, has been heralded as the "modern Bob Dylan." While I really don't think anyone could ever top Dylan (he's my favourite artist overall), he is fairly accomplished lyricist and may be more to your tastes. He's also a little easier on the ears than old man D.

I like Daedelus for a bit of electronic stuff, particularly his song "Fairweather Friends," but his stuff is kind of really random/experimental and hit-or-miss for me. If you're into the genre you might enjoy it.

Radio Moscow is another "dirty blues" band related to the Black Keys. Give them a listen if you're into the sort of classic, rough, dirty blues rock sound.

Amiina, múm, and Seabear are all Icelandic. I found them through Sigur Rós recommendations on last.fm. Amiina and múm are female and do have quite a different sound to Sigur Rós, but it's quite lovely, peaceful, pleasant music all the same.

I don't listen much to Metric but back home in Canada they're incredibly popular. I can't really describe their sound, it's quite indie I suppose but it's got kind of a darker side to it. Give it a try either way.

The song "Spybreak!" by Propellerheads is a damn class tune.

I'm going to add a disclaimer to all of this though: I don't listen to albums, I listen to individual songs. I'm not the sort who dismisses a band because of a poor album. If a lot of songs by a band appeals to me, I like the band. I'm not pushed about albums at all except for when it comes to two artists: Sigur Rós and Pink Floyd. You seem to look at this differently, so I'm not sure how you'd handle full albums of these bands as I've never consecutively listened to the full album structures of them.

I suggest listening to individual songs before making up your mind about the artist instead of trying to piece albums together all the time.

koHd

I don't think there has been a problem with the quality of music in the last ten years.

I think the problem is we have too much music these days. People don't listen to albums the way they used to. Well, at least albums that aren't by their favourite artists.

Back in the day before mass media consumption via the internet, you would really listen to an album.

You'd give it plenty of listens over a few months and begin to love tracks you might not have liked straight away.

But now, we have so much media we "scan" albums. Or simply listen to them two or three times from beginning to end without skipping anything.

I think that makes it hard for us to really feel the same way about an album the way we did back when we got one or two albums a month and listened them to death.

GhostInTheRuins

liah wrote: »

I listen to over 2,400 different bands.

:rolleyes:

liah

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

:rolleyes:

What? I do. I like a hell of a lot of variety. I don't give a damn if you don't believe me, but it's the truth.

I'd listen to more and will do eventually. It's not bragging rights, I just really love music of absolutely all kinds and I love discovering stuff I've never heard of.

No need to give me a rolleyes over it for god's sake, that's just being unnecessarily catty when I'm trying to be helpful.

Probably should just not bother posting anymore the way people go on over entirely innocuous things sometimes.

Blisterman

OP, you're just getting old.
Everyone reaches a point where they think older music was better.
In the 60's people were probably bemoaning the way music was going.

Monkey61

For me, the last decade has definitely been one of the best. Loads of bands I like originated in the 80s/90s, but there was as much rubbish in those decades as well.

People rave about the 60s and 70s, but I think that is down to a few core seminal artists that have stood the test of time and thus act as a yardstick against which people dismiss newer bands.

I think the only difference now is that it is a lot easier for a lot of filler/one hit wonder/one album wonder bands to seem really big and then suddenly crash due to the ease of exposure in the modern media. Plus, in a sense, a couple of years is not enough time to judge a band and their sound. The Rolling Stones, for instance, spent years releasing albums before they released any of the ones that are held up as major classics now.

There are loads of bands that I have adored this decade that I know I will be listening to for years to come - The National, The Hold Steady, Okkervil River, Band of Horses, Interpol, The Libertines, Bishop Allen, The Thermals, Kings of Leon, MGMT, The View to name a few.

In a sense I think bands are being forced to be more creative now because of the short attention span of the average punter and the sheer volume of new music being released. It is not enough anymore to release the same album over and over again. A lot of newer bands may not have the longevity of Bowie, Dylan etc, but I don't think that is a bad thing. I love music, I love albums. I don't mind if The Libertines split after two albums even though I loved them, better that then release rubbish for years. I thought Arcade Fire's Funeral was mind blowing, one of the best albums I have ever heard, but I hated the follow up. That doesn't make them a crap band. Even if they never release something I like again it doesn't matter. I love discovering new music, new songs, new lyrics and I don't mind if that is ten bands releasing ten amazing albums each. Or a hundred bands releasing one amazing album each. I will judge each one as it comes and appreciate it for what it is.

irish_bob

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Yello. I am a big music fan. I am a musician. Earphones spend more time in my ear than not. I like music from all eras; from classical right through to early 20th century and beyond. But when we speak of music and eras these days, we conveniently package them into decades, and speak of the 1960's onwards, though sometimes including the 1950's (and for good reason!).

Anyways, I think the last decade has been something of a disaster, really. Too many hyped bands, not enough substance. Indie bands that aren't really independent, no real underground scene to speak of, no pop cultural shifts, except towards total mediocrity. Of course, there have been some great bands, but nowhere near the frequency of previous decades, imo. However, I must say that the tail-end of this decade has shown a great improvement, especially from 2008 onwards, so hopefully this is a trend into a great 2010-2019.

Thoughts?

far and away the worst ever decade for music , not a single stand out artist emerged except perhaps amy winehouse , dominated by hip hop and the new phenomenon which is the reality tv pop star
also gave us a endless number of what i called neo indie bands , each one indistinguishable from the other

Flamed Diving

irish_bob wrote: »

gave us a endless number of what i called neo indie bands , each one indistinguishable from the other

I will remember it for this.

Kold

OP spends the decade listening to sh*t music.

OP then comes online stating that this decade has been filled with sh*t music.

super_furry

I think the fact that the likes of Oasis and Blur - 90s music - is still being played on the radio and in clubs says it all.

liah

super_furry wrote: »

I think the fact that the likes of Oasis and Blur - 90s music - is still being played on the radio and in clubs says it all.

Erm, how? Every decade had music from the previous decade playing on the radio and in clubs. Hell, even sometimes from the previous century ffs.

Very, very poor argument tbh.

Kold

super_furry wrote: »

I think the fact that the likes of Oasis and Blur - 90s music - is still being played on the radio and in clubs says it all.

I think the fact that you go to clubs that play the likes of Oasis and Blur says it all about that comment.

Flamed Diving

Kold wrote: »

OP spends the decade listening to sh*t music.

OP then comes online stating that this decade has been filled with sh*t music.

Yeah, the fact that this decade provided me with a lot of terrible music would probably have something to do with that.

Oh, but you weren't looking hard enough.

Yes, I was. Furthermore, good bands generally don't hide away in little cracks in the pavement. As one of your colleagues admitted above, good music these days isn't about good albums, but having a good song or two. Well, I'm afraid these aren't the standards that the previous century of music stood by. It speaks volumes of how poor the standard has been.

Flamed Diving

Kold wrote: »

I think the fact that you go to clubs that play the likes of Oasis and Blur says it all about that comment.

Annnnnnd, this marks the point where I stop responding to Kold's posts. He is obviously just trolling and wasting our time.

liah

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Yes, I was. Furthermore, good bands generally don't hide away in little cracks in the pavement. As one of your colleagues admitted above, good music these days isn't about good albums, but having a good song or two. Well, I'm afraid these aren't the standards that the previous century of music stood by. It speaks volumes of how poor the standard has been.

Just because the style has changed doesn't mean it's for the worse. It seems like you just plain don't want to find anything because you'd much rather go on about how much better things were "in your day." Poor attitude to have and means you're overlooking so many talented artists.

And it's not about a "good song or two;" it's just that it's not so much about the flow of an album. I could say that every song on The Black Keys' Thickfreakness album is great, but I wouldn't say it's a great album the same way I'd say Sigur Rós' Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust is a great album. Each individual song on the Thickfreakness album is very, very good as a standalone. But Með flows as a themed album, the kind of thing you'd want to listen to all of as it doesn't have the same impact if you break it down individually (although the songs are still absolutely class, it just works better as the whole shabang.)

You really haven't looked hard enough, honestly. And yes, good bands do sometimes hide away in the cracks. Christ, Britney Spears should show you that it's not talent that decides whether or not you get popular.